The Third Duke of Portland served twice as Prime Minster and had a long and distinguished political career from 1760s to the 1780s. This study details how he was transformed from a pillar of the grand Whiggery (he was the brother-in-law of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire) into the figurehead for would-be Tories. The book also examines how he played an important public role in many of the political crises of his era (including the French Revolution and the Union) as well as a hidden role in British history (he was involved in the secret service and political corruption).

This is a biography focused on the Bentinck family, holders of the Portland Peerage in Great Britain at the time the biography was written (1907). The book begins with a chapter about the first Bentinck, whom the author regards as a hero. At the time of writing, there was a claim on the peerage by the Druce family, but this was several generations after the first Bentinck, Hans William, a Dutch citizen.

Following his earlier survey of 20th Century British Prime Ministers (A Century of Premiers: Salisbury to Blair), Dick Leonard turns his attention to their 19th Century predecessors, including such major figures as the Younger Pitt, the Duke of Wellington, Earl Grey, Palmerston, Disraeli and Gladstone. In a series of 20 biographical essays, he recounts the principal events of their political careers, the circumstances which brought them to the top of 'the greasy pole', assesses their performance as Prime Ministers, and asks what lasting influence they have had. He also recounts fascinating and often little-known facts from both their private and public lives, for example, which Prime Minister got his parents to bring up his illegitimate daughter and pass her off as his much younger sister? Which Prime Minister spent his evenings prowling the streets of London, trying to 'reform' prostitutes? Who was assassinated in the House of Commons? Who told a courtesan who tried to blackmail him 'Publish and be dammed'? And who proclaimed Queen Victoria as Empress of India?